Download the latest source code from the official website or GitHub repository and extract it to a directory of your choice using tar xf kernel_source.tar.gz command.
3. Navigate to the extracted folder in your terminal using cd command.
4. Run the configure script with ./configure option followed by any desired configuration options (such as –enable-module=foo for enabling specific modules). This will generate a .config file based on your current system’s settings and allow you to customize it further if needed.
5. Use nano or another text editor to open the .config file in your preferred terminal editor. Navigate through the options using arrow keys, press to view help for each option, and use to save changes.
6. Once you’ve made all desired modifications, run make command followed by any specific target (such as bzImage or modules) to build your custom kernel. This will take several minutes depending on the complexity of your configuration options.
7. To clean up build artifacts and remove unnecessary files, use make commands such as clean, mrproper, or distclean. These can be run with or without arguments (such as -j$(nproc) to enable parallel building).
8. If you intend to use out-of-tree modules with this custom kernel, install the necessary header files using a package manager or download them separately and compile them yourself. Note that these may not work properly due to differences in configuration options between your distribution’s kernel and this one.
9. Once your custom kernel is built and installed, test it thoroughly before using it in production environments. This can be done by booting into a live environment or virtual machine with the new kernel and verifying that all necessary drivers and modules are present and functioning properly.
10. To configure APT to use Kali Rolling as your default distribution, add “APT::Default-Release \”kali-rolling\”;” to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/local:root@kali:~# cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/local
APT::Default-Release “kali-rolling”;
11. To avoid upgrade prompts, update your /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/local file with ‘DPkg::options { force-confdef; force-confold; }’ as shown below:root@kali:~# cat /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/local
DPkg::options { “–force-confdef”; “–force-confold”; }
APT::Default-Release “kali-rolling”;
12. To pin a package to a particular version, add the following line to your /etc/apt/preferences file:Package: devscripts
Pin: version 2.16.*
Pin-Priority: 1001
Additional Resources:
To learn more about APT and how to bend it to your will, we encourage you to refer to Kali Linux Revealed and The Debian Administrators Handbook, both of which contain a wealth of information, tips, and tricks.